The Land that Remains Inchanged
by Alexandra Y. Jones
Summary: After eight years of Agonizing effort, Naraku is killed and Kikyou goes back to hell... or does she? Kikyou has returned to kill Inuyasha, now for some other reason, and he is forced into hiding, shockingly by Sesshoumaru. Five hundred years later... the
1. Chaos

**Disclaimer:** I know, I know, I know… we have to add this thing at the top all the time or else we'll uh… pay for the consequences… So here it is: I do not own Inuyasha, he and all the other characters that appear in my little gay-ass story belong to Rumiko Takasuri… how however the heck you spell her name… if any of you know how to spell it, please tell me !

**Chapter 1: Chaos **

"Don't worry guys, I'll be back." Kagome said sweetly as she posed on the ledge of the Bone Eater's Well. The days seemed to be more peaceful and quiet for the past week in the feudal Era, ever since they got rid of Naraku. Now that the burden of finding the Shiken Jewel was gone, Kagome was able to travel back and forth between her time and the feudal era without a problem. Well, there was still Inuyasha that Kagome had go to get through before hopping back into her own time where she would run her life like any other normal high school girl. After what seemed like a million rounds of sits, Kagome waved good-bye to her friends and hopped into the well. The last thing she heard was Inuyasha's grief-stricken howl.

_No need to worry Inuyasha…_ She thought ruefully to herself. Despite the fact that she was now spending more time in her own period, Kagome always found her way back to the very depressed Hanyou. Kagome leapt out of the Bone Eater's well with ease. It had been so easy to do that since she had been traveling back and forth between the times in order to gather the Shiken Shards for more than seven years now. It so happened that this fateful day was her Twenty-third birthday. Kagome smiled to herself thinking about what Inuyasha and the rest of the gang were doing.

"Kagome…" a voice called down from the bottom of the well. The voice actually freaked Kagome out because she nearly fell into the well. The voice sounded oddly like Sango's. Perhaps Sango became a ghost and haunted her. Kagome shuddered at the thought and bravely leaned over the ledge of her well. Of course Kagome had the courage to lean into the well to see the ghost of her friend. How could she be afraid of a mere ghost when she had been battling the "almighty" Naraku for nearly eight years now? Naraku was much more menacing than any ghosts ever and of course there was Inuyasha's older half brother Sesshoumaru who was just as scary as Naraku, especially for his obsession of the Tetsusaigia that Inuyasha carried around with him.

As Kagome leaned over the well to look down, a brilliant flash of pinkish light glowed from the bottom of the well. Speaking of which, Sango was sitting at the bottom of the well. She sure as hell didn't look like a ghost. "Sango?" She called down uncertainly. Sango straightened herself up and gave a little nervous laugh as Kagome jumped down to the bottom of the well to join her friend. Instead of being taken back to the feudal era as usual, Kagome found herself looking up at the dark sky where the roof of the well house blocked out the sky.

"What the…" was all that left her throat. Sango was still next to her along with her boomerang.

"Are we back yet?" Sango asked nervously sweat-dropping.

"Sango, what are you doing here?"

"Uh… I um… was just passing by and just as you jumped into the well, Inuyasha shoved me into the well yelling at me to go after you. He told me that he felt this bad premonition."

"And…?"

"He told me he had a feeling that you would never return because of something horrible and handed me this to go after you. He then told me this weird stuff that he might survive until your time and we might meet again or something like that."

"Why would he…" Kagome trailed off and she understood why Inuyasha had been a bit more rash than usual. "He sensed that the well would close up forever…" Kagome said more to herself as she crouched down on the ground and passed her hand absent-mindedly across the dirt.

"Kagome… would that mean… that… please don't tell me I'm stuck here forever!"

Kagome closed her eyes and put a gentle hand on Sango's shoulder. "I'm afraid that your guess is correct. So that was what that pinkish flash was… the well sealed itself once the Shiken Jewel passed to the other side. Somehow… the well was aware of the pain that the Shiken Jewel caused for everyone and willed it into a world where its powers were unknown and ignored." Sango handed Kagome the Shiken Jewel.

"Well, if that's the case I guess I'll have to live with you, if you don't mind. And you can take this since it originated from your body."

"Of course you can stay! You're more than welcome and I'm sure Gramps would be excited to meet you. A person from the feudal area in the flesh!" Kagome grinned as she held the Shiken Jewel to her chest, willing it to return where it once lay.

The Shiken Jewel molded into her body and soon the Jewel's brilliant pink radiance was gone. At that, Sango stood up.

"Well, that settles it. No more Youkais running after the Shiken Jewel. No Naraku, no Sesshoumaru, no Kouga, no Shippou… and no…" Sango immediately cut herself off as she was about to say Inuyasha. Kagome looked a bit sad and Sango mentally slapped herself. "Look, how 'bout you introduce me to your family members?" Kagome nodded and proceeded to climb back up the ladder.

Inuyasha growled to himself. Sango was supposed to come back with Kagome. He knew that if he went, the only thing he would get would be a round of his most feared word. In fact, he flinched every time he heard it and didn't even want to think about it. Shippou popped out from nowhere and landed on his head. "Inuyasha… why'd you have to send Sango after Kagome? Isn't she going to return."

"Shippou…" Inuyasha growled, "Get off my heard before I…" Inuyasha didn't bother finishing his sentence because he punched Shippou off his head and kicked him away from him. That only willed Shippou to come running back to him on all fours. "Can't you smell something wrong in the air?" Inuyasha continued. Shippou nodded. "Then now you might understand why I sent Sango after Kagome. I have a feeling that we won't be seeing them ever again. The least I could do was send Sango after her." Upon hearing Inuyasha's contemplation, Shippou started wailing like mad only to be interrupted by a loud smack that resounded through the village.

They didn't need to guess very hard to locate where that sound came from. It was obviously another village girl slapping Miroku across the face. Despite Naraku's plight, Miroku still had his Kazanna on his right hand, which meant one thing: pervert. Both Inuyasha and Shippou sighed as the black-haired monk trampled out from what seemed like nowhere. Across his left cheek was the clear shape of a red hand mark. Right before Naraku died, he had cursed the Kazanna to stay with Miroku forevermore. Luckily he died before saying anything else. And with the help of Inuyasha abandoning his wishes to be complete youkai and Kagome's wishing upon the Shiken Jewel, the Kazanna was no longer a threat to Miroku.

But that didn't mean that he didn't stop being the biggest pervert in the village. "Ah… if only I didn't have this hole, then I might not be as perverted as you think me to be." Miroku said sighing while looking at his gloved hand. "If only Sango was here, then I would have at least enjoyed the slap, maybe even a bonk over the head with her boomerang." Inuyasha immediately freaked out and leapt away from Miroku.

"Whoa! Hold it! You're not telling me you actually enjoyed being beaten by Sango! Are you?"

"Why else would I keep touching her lovely butt knowing the consequences."

"Sicko."

Inuyasha sniffed the air and growled. "Miroku, don't you sense anything foul?" Miroku nodded as Inuyasha growled aloud to himself, "Sesshoumaru… why him?"

Sure enough Sesshoumaru appeared before them with an aura of arrogance. "Sesshoumaru, stop patronizing me." Inuyasha scowled as his older brother shot him a condescending glare. Inuyasha steadied himself and growled at his brother whose golden orbs shimmered not in malice as usual, but a look pleading him. Inuyasha sensed that his brother was not there to fight. "Sesshoumaru, don't think you could mask your emotions with your boring-ass facial expression. I can practically SNIFF the worry rolling off you in waves. What is it?"

"Inuyasha, tell me this," Sesshoumaru said scowling at the fact that his brother had figured out his true motive of seeing him. "What did you really do to that miko?" Inuyasha settled back into his fighting stance.

"What about Kagome?" He asked with a snarl, "If you're wondering what happened to her, she went back to her own time."

"I'm not talking about your mate, I'm talking about that undead miko of yours. What was her name again?" Sesshoumaru put on an expression of mock confusion. He shot Inuyasha a cold glare savoring the stricken look that spread across the hanyou's face. "Ah yes, it must be Kikyou I'm talking about. Tell me this, what did you really do to her?"

"I sent her to hell! What else would I have done? She's an undead Miko and I can't bear to think about her roaming the lands alone. Besides, I chose Kagome. Who would want to stick around with a insensitive clay pot like her?"

"Well, I hope you realize that this so called clay pot did not go to hell after all."

Inuyasha mentally choked on his own breath. "WHAT?" He sputtered not believing what his brother had told him. He was so sure he saw her sink into the ground and disappear in a flash of white light. Kagome had her soul completed, so how did she return. Inuyasha balled his hands into fists and hissed, "Liar. She's gone, she promised me she wouldn't return."

Sesshoumaru gave Inuyasha his usual impassive expression and told his younger brother evenly that apparently Kikyou did not keep her promise and was bent on taking him with her to hell if that meant she had to wage total war in the middle of the land. "I came to ask you to just go to hell with your beloved clay pot and never set danger to any youkai in this land. If that resurrected miko comes back and wages war with you she shall destroy all youkai in this land. Is that clear."

Involuntarily, Inuyasha muttered, "There's only one person who can stop her." Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at Inuyasha.

"You don't mean that that mate of yours could stop her. If that is so, I must remind you that she is very weak in miko powers…"

"You don't understand, you ass!" Inuyasha interrupted with a snarl, "If you think I was the one who killed Naraku, you're wrong. The person who actually killed Naraku was Kagome." Inuyasha raised his eyes to examine his brother who had gone rigid in shock. "I may have attacked Naraku with my Backlash Wave, but that didn't work. As Naraku was about to finish me off, Kagome shot her arrow at him. So now, if you think Kagome's a weak miko, think again because if you're as powerful as Naraku once was, she can take you down. And if she can take you down, she sure as hell can take Kikyou down."

"Do you not comprehend that I cannot sense any powerful miko vibes from this Kagome?"

"That's because she masks her powers, you cocky bastard!"

"And I hope you understand that this so called Kikyou sealed the well forevermore to keep this Kagome of yours from ever returning to this world to stop her." Inuyasha stiffened.

Shippou, who was hiding behind Inuyasha stuck his head out from behind Inuyasha's hair and asked him, "That means we can't ever see Kagome or Sango again?" Inuyasha swallowed hard. Was his brother testing him again? If his brother was right, then he was going to tear Kikyou from limb to limb. How dare she do that to his one and only love, the only person who taught him how to love and trust again? To make matters worse, Kikyou had _lied_ to him. He growled, the sound vibrating from the back of his throat. "That bitch lied to me…" he snarled. Red-hot anger seemed to have clouded his vision, as Inuyasha menacingly told Shippou to get off him.

The small kitsune obeyed without another word and Inuyasha jumped off the ground to find the lying Miko. As fast as he leapt off the ground, he felt something soft and fluffy against his ankle. It felt vaguely familiar. Before Inuyasha could go any further into figuring out what it was, he felt himself plummet to the ground flat on his face. "INUYASHA!" He heard Miroku and Shippou call out in terror.

"You, little brother, are not going anywhere." He knew he felt that from somewhere. It was none other than Sesshoumaru's white furry pelt that lay on his shoulder. "We cannot stop this miko," came the same calm reply of his brother. "Even I am prone to danger against this miko who was once your girlfriend."

"She is NOT my girlfriend!" Inuyasha growled through gritted teeth. "Now get that fluffy thing OFF my ankle NOW!"

"Inuyasha, even I fear this once-ningen. She is very dangerous and can kill us without cause. Come to think of it, this Sesshoumaru thinks that it's not a wise idea for even something as shameful as you to die. I wished I haven't chosen this choice but we must go into hiding."

"HIDING!" Inuyasha roared pushing himself off the ground. "HIDE FROM KIKYOU? Where the hell did you leave that ruthless manner of yours? Huh?" Inuyasha clawed at the pelt that had wrapped itself around his ankle and was now cutting his circulation off. "GET YOUR FUCKING PELT OFF MY ANKLE!" Inuyasha shouted. He proceeded to take out the Tetsusaigia to slice the pelt off if that was the last thing he had to do.

Before he could slice the pelt off, he felt it loosen it's grip and slide off his ankle. "Smart thinking!" He growled, standing up.

"Inuyasha, follow me now. The rest are already in hiding."

"Why do you want to save me when you've been trying for the last seven years to kill me?" Inuyasha barked. "I do as I please, and I will certainly NOT follow you, even if you were telling the truth."

"Inuyasha, I don't feel bad vibes from Sesshoumaru this time." Miroku said calmly.

"What? You're going to follow him into a cave FILLED with youkais? As a monk too?"

"Those so-called youkais in the cave are youkais we know. The last thing I want is father's grave being shattered and purified."

"Why me?"

"Because you carry father's grave with you in your left eye. Besides, the only youkais that ceased to believe me were the mangly wolf and his remaining clan, the Ayame woman, Toutosai, and of course, Jaken. The only reason why I am persisting longer to get you to follow me is because of father's grave."

"Fuck you Sesshoumaru. You know damn well that I wouldn't follow you."

"Inuyasha, I suggest we follow Sesshoumaru to his suggested hiding place, it's all for Miroku, Shippou and Kirara."

Inuyasha glared down at the voice. He knew where it came from. Inuyasha angrily clawed through his hair and gave up to angrily flinging his hair around until a tiny dot flew out from his hair. "Myoga…" Inuyasha snarled gnashing his teeth at the small flea-youkai in between his claws.

"If Myoga agrees with Sesshoumaru, then we have a serious issue going on." Miroku said with a pensive look upon his face. Inuyasha shifted his death glare from Myoga to the monk who stood there firmly.

"I'm going to send Kikyou to hell if that's the last thing I have to do to stop her."

A flash of green light sliced past him barely missing him. It sliced a thin line along Inuyasha's face. Sesshoumaru looked angry beyond words. "You idiot. Once miko murders all the youkai, not only would I be the only inuyoukai standing, I'd be the last of all youkais!" Inuyasha glared at Sesshoumaru.

"Fine then. Take Shippou, Kirara, Miroku, and Myoga with you. I shall fight Kikyou. That's the only alternative left here now. And don't think I'd come running to you because I will not. Hide in that fucking hole of yours all you want but I will fight Kikyou even if that means I have to die."

With that, Inuyasha shoved the rest of his friends in front of him. "I don't have to worry about Kagome and Sango since they're safe in the future." Before is malevolent brother could utter another word or so much as lash out at him with his pelt and poison whip, Inuyasha had disappeared.

Sesshoumaru rubbed his temples with his only hand as he barely missed his brother with his pelt. His brother was much stupider than he had anticipated. Cursing inwardly to himself, Sesshoumaru turned on his heels and without so much as turning around, "Come." And he walked off. Miroku and the rest followed him into the mist that was starting around them.

_She's starting her attack._ Sesshoumaru thought to himself. "We're going through air." With that, Sesshoumaru summoned his mist that lifted him off the ground while Miroku, Shippou, and Myoga got on Kirara. They whizzed away to the unknown place that Sesshoumaru staked out as his hiding place.

"HAPPY FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY!" Kagome's family called out to her. Kagome blinked. She was sure she was turning twenty-three this year, how did everything turn out to be that she was turning fifteen? Kagome looked at Sango who looked back at her surprised. They had celebrated each other's birthdays in their own special way in the feudal area. How did it happen that Kagome reverted back to a sixteen-year-old?

Nonetheless, Kagome smiled at her family and put on her fake happiness. Something wasn't right. "Umm… Gramps, I brought one of my friends with me from the feudal era other than Inuyasha. This is Sango." Kagome nudged Sango forward. Sango seemed shy, her boomerang posed on her back.

"Ooh! Is that…" Gramps rushed over to Sango and fingered her boomerang in awe. "Youkai bone…" Sango put on an uneasy smile. Kagome looked around the house. Some of the new things they had gotten when she was seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen were gone. Could it be that she had traveled somewhat into the future, but not quite. Sango was quite impressed with everything around her. She was especially impressed with the lump of blubber and fur that was now brushing itself against her ankle.

_What? I thought Buyo died…_ Kagome thought to herself. Also, looking at Sango, she was positive that Sango looked six years younger. With that, she hastily excused herself to the bathroom. Once securely inside, she took a glimpse at herself into the mirror. She sure as hell did look as if she was fifteen. She couldn't believe she became so young. Why? Did she lose all her Miko powers she harbored with herself when she left Inuyasha clutching onto the ledges of the Bone eater's well?

Kagome tested her powers to see if anything had happened. She tried her smallest, weakest power she had only recently acquired. Snapping her finger, she felt a thin plume of sparkly white smoke rise from her fingers. She hadn't lost her powers. So maybe this was all a dream. Kagome threw open the door and grabbed Sango's arm.

"Come on! We need to figure something out! Mom, Souta, Gramps, thanks for the wonderful birthday you gave me, but I need to go somewhere with Sango." Without further delay, Kagome grabbed Sango's arm and dragged her out of the house. "Oh, and I'll be borrowing some money!" With that, Kagome dragged Sango out of the door and was down the steps to the shrine. The view of the city sparkled before her in the setting sun.

"Wow! I can't believe we actually made all this!" Sango breathed as Kagome tugged her off the curve to the subway.

Sango hesitated at the subway stand. "Come Sango, there's nothing to worry about, it's just something that helps regulate the amount of people that go on the train."

"Train?" Sango asked confused. She didn't notice the amount of people staring at her gigantic boomerang that still lay on her back.

"Yes." Kagome said as she put her subway ticket into it's slot and moved through. She stopped to wait for Sango who seemed not to know how to work it. "Oh, right. You stick the ticket in that small slot there." Sango hesitantly placed the ticket inside it's slot and it whizzed out of her hand. Freaking out and attracting more stares than before, Sango took out her boomerang and posed before the strange contraption. Kagome sweat-dropped. "Uh… it's supposed to do that. All you have to do is walk through it.

Blushing, Sango lowered her boomerang and tentatively walked through the machine. She let out a sigh of relief to find out that nothing happened. Without further or do, the two girls made their way to the train that was waiting. Kagome grabbed Sango's hand and ran up to the train. "Hurry up! If we miss that we have to wait for the next train!" Sango ran after her friend and the two of them managed to get into the train.

The doors slid shut, once more freaking Sango out. Kagome did her best to calm her friend down and explain to her that it was a door and nothing more. As soon as the train began to move, Sango experimentally tapped the ground with one foot. "Wow… this moves almost as fast as Inuyasha… well, maybe not as fast, but amazing." They waited until their stop came, and when it did, Kagome led her friend over to a hospital.

"Sango, if I'm correct, I think that we've just turned younger." Kagome said to the perplexed Sango and they moved towards the revolving doors.

"Don't tell me we're going inside there!" Sango said referring to the revolving door that continued to go round and round as some people willingly stepped into it. Smiling benignly, Kagome led Sango to the regular doors and pushed it open. She held the door so Sango could step through and they went to the DNA section. It was a place to figure out who was whose parent and things like that. It was also able to figure out people's age, especially designed for those who could not keep track of their ages.

Kagome approached one of the doctors and asked them if they could figure out her age as well as Sango's. Sango looked confused and freaked out when one of the nurses approached her with a needle. "Relax, it's only to take a small sample of your blood so they can figure our ages out."

"Kagome we should know our…" Sango was cut off when Kagome covered her mouth and laughed nervously. "They can figure our age out by looking at our blood?" Sango finished off lamely. "Are they evolved flea you-" Kagome covered Sango's mouth and laughed nervously as the doctors took their blood samples.

"Thank you very much ladies, please wait out in the waiting room." One of the nurses said sweetly. She handed them a slip with a number on it and Kagome led Sango out of the room and into the waiting room.

"Kagome, what's going on?"

"Sango, keep your voice down. If I am correct, we've just de-aged by seven years."

"Is that why I thought you looked a lot younger than before?"

"Yes. I have a bad feeling. In fact, I've had this feeling ever since I found out that the well sealed itself. I don't think it would just seal up by itself. I think someone sealed it up on purpose so that I can't come back. I think it has something to do with Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha? Who would want to hurt Inuyasha now that Naraku's gone? Sesshoumaru?"

"Wrong. That wasn't the power of a taiyoukai or any other youkai. It was the power of a miko."

"Kikyou? But didn't she go to hell after bidding Inuyasha goodbye?"

"I honestly don't know, if it were Kikyou, what would she want from Inuyasha that would make her seal the well up to keep me from coming back?" Kagome suddenly froze. "Oh kami… she's trying to kill him isn't she?"

"KAGOME! Kikyou is GONE. She couldn't have come back from hell to kill Inuyasha. We saw it for ourselves. She sucked herself into the ground never to come back again. How can she come back all of a sudden and…" Sango was cut off by Kagome's worried expression.

"I didn't want to tell you this, but a new nights after Kikyou disappeared, a small bit of my soul floated out from my body, which makes me more worried. I tried many times to will it back into my body. Kikyou was trying to return. I managed to save most of my soul, but the tiniest bit managed to escape."

"But what does Kikyou have to do with all this de-aging thing?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I might have to go back to school again. I'd kill myself if I find myself amongst younger students. Besides, you know that cat that rubbed against your ankle?"

"WHOA! THAT WAS A CAT?" Sango literally screamed. Kagome put on an insulted expression.

"Yes. It was Buyo. But that isn't important because Buyo died last year from a heart attack. So what is he doing here when he died?" Sango looked confused but she didn't have time to reply since the light changed to a different number. That number was theirs.

"Look, let's discuss this later. I have to go to school tomorrow. And we're next." Kagome got up with Sango and the two entered into the doctor's room as if it were their execution room.

"Ah, Ms. Higurashi. We have you're results. I'm glad to know your memory span is now back to normal, which means that you don't have to return periodically to figure out your age. Your ages are fifteen and sixteen respectively." The old man told them nodded at Kagome then to Sango. Both girls paled. This was not happening. It couldn't be!

Inuyasha woke up with a growl. His head hurt and he couldn't remember anything. The first thing he saw was Shippou's face. "INUYASHA! You're alive!"

"What else the fuck do you think I am?"

"Thank kami that Sesshoumaru saved you."

"WHAT?" Inuyasha roared bolting upright. Shippou tumbled off his stomach as his golden eyes surveyed the place he had woke up in. It was dark and lit poorly by some fire, which must have been made by Jaken's Nintengen, and Shippou's fox fire. The place was rugged and dark as well as cold. As Inuyasha surveyed the place, he saw Kouga scowling over what seemed like a rat with his two henchmen Ginta and Hakkaku.

"Awww man! Why the hell did I have to be born as a carnivore?" Kouga growled picking up the rat by it's tail then dropping it on the floor. Jaken was sitting on a bed of hay with a little girl cuddled next to him. Miroku was trying to make moves on Ayame, who kept on smacking him over the head with her fist. Toutosai was sitting down at the far end sobbing about how his place was destroyed and that he need fangs to make swords. He had set up a small area around him with his blacksmith materials and his cow stood next to him mooing calmly.

"Remember, Mangly wolf, you will NOT lay your hands on my cow!" Toutosai shouted.

"Heh! That cow looks like it would taste like shit." Kouga spat from the other side. Finally, Inuyasha's scanning eyes stopped on a tall figure that stood with his back to the rest of the group. The next thing Inuyasha did was fly up to claw out his brother. Much to his distaste, everyone, including Miroku blocked him.

"You bastard! How dare you interfere with my fight!"

"Did you not realize that you were about to be killed if I hadn't interfered?" Came Sesshoumaru's calm voice. The inuyoukai turned around to face his defiant brother. "I didn't have a choice. The last thing in the world I want is for father's grave disappearing from the face of this earth. I believe that that insane miko is now bent on destroying all youkai on the face of this earth and any other humans who are attracted or have any connections to a youkai. I, myself could not kill that Miko either. She was much too powerful. The only reason why I survived was because of the tenseiga. Using its powers I willed it to save the two of us. Now we have nothing else to do but to sit here and wait until that mad miko is taken to hell where she rightfully belongs or for your wretch to appear from out of nowhere to destroy her seeing that she is the only one who can stop this Kikyou woman. But that can be proved otherwise, since Kikyou had reversed her age. Thus she does not have the miko powers she acquired over the past eight years."

"WHHAT? You mean that Kagome became fifteen again?"

"Precisely. And I'm sure that the youkai exterminator is once again at the same age she once was when you first met. Pity. She's gotten much better in combat."

Inuyasha scowled at his brother. This was it. Kagome probably didn't even remember him. Damn that Kikyou. Sighing to himself, Inuyasha gave up his struggle and everyone released him. All he did was pace back and forth wondering if Kagome forgot who he was and her miko powers. But something in his heart told him that Kagome had not forgotten him. She would never forget him and neither would he no matter what. "You're a liar, Sesshoumaru." Inuyasha spat quietly enough for only his brother to hear.

Sesshoumaru turned around at his brother and humphed. Judging by the scent in the air, Inuyasha was somewhat convinced although deep down inside, his brother still hoped that Kagome didn't forget him. Sesshoumaru turned away from his brother. _I'm sorry Inuyasha,_ he thought to himself, _but I have no choice but to say that so you wouldn't run off after her again._ With that, Sesshoumaru sat down on the bed of straw. He removed his armor and his pelt, which he found unmistakably dirty. "Jaken, wash this for me." He said calmly. The toady youkai approached and him and bowed deeply. "Yes milord… Rin, I know you like to watch me wash Sesshoumaru-sama's pelt." The little girl next to him bolted upright and skipped by him as he waddled deeper into the cave, the pelt dragging on the floor behind him. A small notch of vein appeared on Sesshoumaru's head.

"Jaken. Lift it up in the air. I will not tolerate my pelt being filled with mud before being washed." Inuyasha and the rest collapsed onto the floor their feet in the air twitching occasionally. Sesshoumaru lifted his teacup to his lips and sipped quietly.

Miroku was the first to recover. "I'm quite thirsty. I shall follow Jaken to see where the spring is so I could take a nice cool drink. With that Miroku disappeared into the darkness after the "toad" and the little girl. Inuyasha, in the meantime, Keh-ed. Then for a moment, just for a fleeting minute, everything seemed normal… Kouga fought Inuyasha a bit only to be broken apart by an angry Sesshoumaru. But it didn't last long, and everything seemed to collapse into the same silence as before. Inuyasha knew that Kagome had to be back.

* * *

A/N: New villain eh? And all those Kikyou lovers out there, I don't hate Kikyou, but I sort of wrote this story up out of the blue, so please don't scream at me by saying she's not a bad guy in the original anime/manga, because I know she isn't and I ain't doing this because I hate her, and it is NOT a kikyou bashing, so for all those Kikyou haters, well it's sort of a disappointment, since Kikyou is not displayed as "the slut" or the "jealous one"… well indirectly, anyway. 

And also, if you are a person who HATES spoilers, well, this one is a slight spoiler, so beware! Nevertheless, please enjoy the story! It's not quite what you think!

* * *

NEXT CHAPTER: **STRANGE HAPPENINGS**

Why would Kikyou suddenly want to kill all the youkais, especially Inuyasha? Because this time, she doesn't want to take him to hell so she could be with him for eternity, oh yes, there's some other reason behind it!


	2. Strange Happenings

**Chapter 2: Strange Happenings**

Kagome hadn't eaten anything out of sheer shock. Sango was especially worried since Kagome kept on musing over Inuyasha. Although Kagome had returned to her old school life that she sometimes wanted, somehow it was so boring. Kagome sighed to herself._ So this is what life was like before I met Inuyasha!_ Kagome thought gloomily to herself as her math teacher droned on and on about factoring. _We all know how to factor! Why do we have to go through it again?_ Kagome screamed to herself. Something was telling her to forget Inuyasha and move on, but she couldn't. Especially not when life became so dull and boring. Speaking of Inuyasha, she didn't want to fail him by forgetting her Miko powers. Thus, when she was alone, she practiced quite a bit with them, still training herself. Sango continued to practice with her giant boomerang, although she somehow found that her boomerang was no longer of any significance to her as it was in her own time.

Sango wasn't doing too well either, she became immensely bored after a month. The first week of her stay with Kagome was actually very fun, since she had never seen a refrigerator before in her life. What fascinated Sango even more was the box with the tiny moving people in it and the huge buildings filled with light and excitement. She also liked the cars, as Kagome called it. The way they zoomed to a fro made her quite shocked to see how much her own race had accomplished over the last five hundred years. Yet, all of this excitement was only temporary. Soon, excitement winded down to exhaustions, and the hospitality of these strange boxes (as Sango put it), only made her homesick.

Because both girls seemed to miss the feudal era, they would occasionally run into the Inuyasha forest and pretend they were surrounded by youkais as a practice as if they were only little five-year-olds playing a small game. But who would blame them anyway? They missed the feudal era!

Of all the boredom and the nostalgic feelings, somehow Kagome's wish seemed to have come true, because one day, during class Kagome heard Kikyou's voice. _Why do you hang onto the past like you belong there? You don't belong there! Forget about Inuyasha and go on with your regular life!_

'_But… I can't… I love Inuyasha dearly and I cannot forget my miko powers! I will disappoint him.'_

_FORGET INUYASHA! YOU BOTH LIVE SEPARATE LIVES!_

"I CAN'T!" Kagome screamed slamming her fists down on her table and standing up angrily.

"Kagome…" Her teacher said in a warning tone. Kagome didn't seem to hear him because of the mental conversation with Kikyou continued.

_Yes you can! What use is he of your world?_

'_He's every use to me! It doesn't matter if he has no purpose in this world as long as he is by my side!'_Kagome thought angrily to Kikyou.

_He has no use for you. If it hadn't been you who killed Naraku, he would have gone to hell with me._

'_No! That's not why!'_

_Yes it is… you know it is._

'_You're lying.'_

_I am not. He is simply staying by your side because he feels…_

'_I don't want to hear it!'_

_He simply stays by your side because he feels he should…_

'_I told you, I don't want to hear it!'_

_Because he feels that he should pay you…_

"LEAVE ME ALOOOOONE!"Kagome screamed the last words out loud. The teacher was enraged. Before he could do anything else, however, a blast of pink energy blew out from Kagome blasting the windows and upsetting the desks. Students scattered all around her, but were unhurt. The energy blasted throughout the building decimating more than half the buildings. The reason why no one was killed was because it was a purifying power.

By the time the powers settled down, Kagome was breathing hard, but she couldn't get rid of Kikyou's voice that rang in her ears. She clamped her hands over her ears to cut off the sound, but Kikyou's voice came from within. Kikyou was also very angry.

_You… you… still have your miko powers?_

"GO AWAY!"

_I will for now, but remember, I will explain the rest to you later._

Sighing, Kagome dropped down to her knees shaking. Her three friends ran over to her, asking her is she was alright. "Kagome! Where did that come from?" Yuka asked alarmed. Kagome was shaking terribly. Something went horribly wrong with Kikyou. She had given Inuyasha to her and went to hell where she would dwell years upon ends. When Kagome regained her composure, her teacher had backed away from her.

"Where did you get those powers?"

"Huh?"

"Do not answer your teacher in that manner. Tell me, are you a miko?"

"I… I…" Kagome started looking around at her now terrified classmates, "I'm… I… yes. I am."

"Mikos… they disappeared from the face of the earth when one miko by the name of Kikyou destroyed all youkais on the face of Japan, thus freeing the people from their worries. It's been said that she was searching for Inuyasha, a hanyou, but she never found him and grudgingly returned to the underworld."

"Inuyasha…" Kagome muttered to herself. She placed her hand on her chest where her soul rested. She knew her soul was not complete. "You're wrong." She said quietly holding her hand on her heart. "Kikyou… she's still around somewhere searching. She's not the type of person to simply give up on pursuing Inuyasha." Her bangs covered her eyes. "He still exists…"

"Kagome Higurashi, what on earth are you saying? Inuyasha and Kikyou are a legend. It's been said that they traveled together to piece the Shiken Jewel that she had shattered to keep any youkai from gaining the complete jewel."

No, they had the story done upside down. It wasn't right. SHE was the one who stupidly shattered the Shiken Jewel into millions of pieces. Kagome placed her hands on the spot where the Shiken Jewel lay quietly. But she said nothing. Instead she apologized and helped her classmates fix the classroom up.

* * *

"Shippou, where the fuck did you bring such worthless junk from?" Inuyasha scowled at the teen who set a box in front of him.

"Humph! Why do you have to be so damn grumpy?Besides,I heard that there were moving people in it." The hanyou snorted at the youth and turned his direction towards a dark-haired man in purple robes sitting in the corner fiddling with the prayer beads that adorned his right hand.

"I don't know. I don't think those things would EVER exist." Themonk said calmly while rubbing a speck of dirt off his staff.

"Ha! You heard that, didn't youShippou? Now throw that piece of shit away now."

"NO WAY!" Shippou shoutedas he childishlypulled the box towards his chest. "I'll have to fox fire you, if that's the last thing in the world I have to do to protect my box ofmovingpeople."

"And this wonderful box of walking people? Does it grant some sort of vision into the world outside this cave?" Came an oddly familiarcalm andcool voice.That voiceundoubtably belonged to Sesshoumaru. Shippou nodded vigorously (although he wasn't too sure)as he placed the box in the center of the cave, Kouga only scowled upon seeing that it was only a box, not food. "When is this clay bitch going to just DIE or something? I'm sick and tired of eating fish, bats, bugs, and rats! I've been eating them for five hundred years now! Don't you think I'd be sick of it?"

"Oy! I've been on pretty much the same diet and I don't complain, you Mangy Wolf!" Inuyasha shouted across the cave. That sparked another argument between the wolf and the dog and everyone else sighed, except Sesshoumaru. In fact,Sesshoumaru scowled darkly. Lately his hard mask of stoicism was cracking, since his repetitive diet of, as Inuyasha quite grandioselyput it, shit. In fact,the rest of the gang, minus Rin and Ayame, were pretty much running out of patience. Of course, Rin and Ayame were not there, since they had gone to take a bath, Rin mostly wanting to splash around and play. Suddenly, the cave got very silent, as everyone glared murderously at Inuyasha.

Freaking out, Inuyasha took a step back yelling, "Hey, what are you guys staring at me like that?"

"You've been to Kagome's home. I'm sure you know how to turn the thing on." Scowling, Inuyasha squatted down in front of the box, which Kagome identified as the Tally-vision. He jabbed his finger on the power button. The screen switched on, but there was nothing more than static.

"INUYASHA!" Shippou shouted, "YOU LIED!"

"Wha-? Are you crazy?"

"You just told us you didn't know what that was!"

Inuyasha shrugged and grumbled something that sounded oddly like: "So?"as he rapped the top of the tally-vision with a clawed fist. The static crackled and a voice talking was heard before it turned back into nothing more than static. "No reception." Was all Inuyasha grunted before picking the box up and walking around the cave, holding the tally-vision out to find some sort of reception. The tally-vision's vision cleared a bit when he reached the mouth of the cave. "That's better."

He didn't notice that the whole gang had been following him around with curiosity, even Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha stopped and glared at the group. "WELL?" He barked, "What are you following me for?"

"I'd like to know, DEAR BROTHER, what are you doing?"

"Trying to get a good reception." Inuyasha snapped, "Come to think of it, Kagome's," He stopped at the name of his beloved, his voice cracking a bit, "Kagome's," He said strengthening his voice, "Home had some weird wire sticking out from the roof. She told me it was for better reception for the tally-vision."

Shippou and Miroku sighed to one another. As time passed, the gang came to learn never to mention Kagome in front of neither Inuyasha nor Kouga, especially Inuyasha. Sheesh! It didn't take five hundred years for Inuyasha to not forget about Kagome, did it?

"TOUTOSAI! Yes! That's when that old fart comes into play!" Inuyasha shouted turning back into his old self. He stomped over deeper into the cave, Ayame and Rin had returned. Rin had grown older, and was about Shippou's age. Much like Shippou, she did not lose her child-like innocence, and thus still thought like a child. Nobody ever bothered to teach them about puberty and such. Miroku did receive a number of bumps on the head from the group members for trying to teach them, especially from Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha always avoided Rin, since she somehow had a striking resemblance of Kagome.

Keeping his gaze off Rin who happily and naively greeted him, Inuyasha stomped over to Toutosai. "OLD FART!" He shouted rather rudely and kicked the old man awake. Toutosai woke up and blinked his bulbous eyes at Inuyasha who glowered down at him. Inuyasha crouched down in a position much like a dog and drew out the "wire-thing" he had seen on top of Kagome's roof from memory. "Can you make us that?" He asked. Toutosai tilted his head and asked him, "Do you wish for me to forge a strange weapon?" Without warning and so much for asking, Toutosai grabbed a pair of pliers and yanked one of Inuyasha's fangs out.

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Inuyasha screamed. The sound echoed throughout the cave, which brought every single member crashing over to their direction shouting stupid things such as, "Kikyou!" or "To arms! To arms! The clay bitch is attacking!" (that one came from Kouga, by the way) and many more. Sesshoumaru, Kouga, and Shippou had their hand(s) over their ears. "YOU BASTARD!" Inuyasha screamed raging. He bonked Toutosai on the head as hard as he could. "I didn't want another fucking sword!"

"Eh? What was that? You didn't?" Toutosai shrugged and moved to make the strange contraption that Inuyasha had designed for him. Everyone gathered around him curiously watching him fashion the strange contraption from Inuyasha's fang, while Inuyasha himself KEH-ed and humphed. Inuyasha seemed pissed throughout the whole ordeal. It didn't take toutosai long to finish the contraption. When it was done, he held up a strange spidery object in his tongues, which Inuyasha tried to snatch away only to burn his hand. "AIIIEEEEE!" Inuyasha ran around the cave and disappeared.

Minutes later, Sesshoumaru heard the sound of water hissing as Inuyasha plunged his hand into the cold water. Shrugging, Toutosai placed it in the water and it hissed and sizzled. "Finished."

Inuyasha had returned and snatched the thing out of Toutosai's hands, clonking the old swordsmith on the head before he left.

That night, the rest of the gang sat around the box of moving people in awe. Inuyasha would change the channels every one minute, calling them: "Shallow, stupid, boring, unrealistic…" Suddenly he stopped on one of the channels. It was a news program, but the place seemed vaguely familiar.

A woman was standing in front of a scene that awed the gang except Inuyasha, who had already seen those things, provided that he had been to Kagome's world several times. "A strange happening has occurred over the past few minutes. Apparently a strange force of energy enveloped a third of Tokyo in strange pinkish lights. The origin of such powers is unknown. However, it is said that it started in a simple high school near the Higurashi shrine. Whatever this powerful thing is, it has destroyed nearly everything in its path, strangely sparing the lives of any living thing." The screen flashed to show a bright pink light embracing the city and destroying everything in its path.

"Kikyou." Miroku said calmly. "She didn't disappear after all."

"Damn straight, that creepy bitch should be alive somewhere." Inuyasha snapped. But something kept tugging him at the back of his mind. _Kikyou is still alive, I know that, but I have a feeling… a strange feeling… it didn't come from Kikyou. Could it have been Kagome?_

"Human, are you stupid? That clay miko will never die until her soul is rested." Sesshoumaru's voice cut through Inuyasha's train of thought. "She can't come here. I had Jaken put up an Anti-miko barrier. Thus, that woman cannot enter without being utterly destroyed, clay or not."

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha suddenly shouted, scaring the daylights out of everyone including his older brother. "It's her I KNOW it's her!"

BONK! Sesshoumaru thumped Inuyasha over the head with his fist. "It's not her. I hope you DO remember what Kikyou said. She turned Kagome's time upside down so that she's fifteen again. That means that she has NO memories of you whatsoever, neither does she have the ability to use her miko powers. Speaking of which, she may be able to pass my barrier for mikos seeing that she doesn't have the powers anymore."

"Sesshoumaru…" Shippou started, then he kicked the taiyoukai once, "Look what you just did! You just shredded the last hope Inuyasha had in Kagome. And I hope you remember it was you who told us not to bring her up or discuss about her or elaborate on the topic of Kagome." Sesshoumaru scowled again. The gang sneaked a look at Kouga and Inuyasha. Much to their horror, both had started bickering again.

"If you weren't such a bastard then this would have never happened! Why the hell did you attach yourself to that clay bitch so that something like this would happen?"

"Shut up, Mangy Wolf! You try forgetting about someone you loved with all your heart and soul!"

"So you DO have feelings for that clay bitch after all! I can't believe that Kagome still loves you after all you've put her through, running after a mean-ass clay bitch only to be tossed away rudely! I think Kagome would be much happier with me! You seem to make her cry all the time!"

Inuyasha looked oddly quiet. He didn't lash out at Kouga with his claws, but simply stood there clenching his fists until he drew blood from his own palm. After a while, "You're right. It _is_ all my fault. Everything is. Kagome's heart, this, Kikyou… hell, I don't even know why she ever stayed by my side. You're right, Wolf, Kagome should have gone to you. All I do is hurt her." Inuyasha looked up with a strange half-smile that must have creeped everyone out. "I'll bet I deserved her forgetting me. Maybe I should go out and let Kikyou kill me. I don't deserve to live."

"YOU ASS!" Sesshoumaru roared. "Do you not COMPREHEND that you hold father's grave in your left eye?"

"SO? What does it matter to you?"

"You and I may still be half-brothers, but Inutaisho is still MY DAD!" The last word echoed emptily through the cave bouncing off the walls and returning to both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. The seemingly magical deposition of Sesshoumaru was suddenly broken when there was a crackle of twigs. This sent both brothers on their edges along with Kouga and Shippou. Kirara changed into her gigantic cat-like form growling menacingly. "I smell human…" Sesshoumaru growled.

A man came into view. Sesshoumaru launched his attack, but Inuyasha grabbed his arm and managed somehow to keep his brother back. "Wait. It's not Kikyou. Remember? Kikyou can't break through the barrier no matter how strong of a miko she is. That barrier's designed to keep powerful mikos like her out." Sesshoumaru nodded in agreement.

"However, we will not let this man out of our sight. We do not want him running around the place blabbing about our whereabouts. Despite the fact that he does not reek of that miko, he can set a new set of rumors free. I believe the best thing to do is to kill him." Sesshoumaru flexed his claws.

"No, let him live." Miroku took a step forward. "The man didn't mean any harm."

"Shut up monk! Did he not see the state of Inuyasha, Jaken, Kirara, and Shippou? He's bound to run off to his strange world to broadcast to the whole world about seeing us. If the miko finds out, she will come here to off all of us. And by now, I do not want to think about how powerful this miko has gotten over the past five hundred years. You heard what that ningen said about the miko power that destroyed nearly a third of Tokyo." Inuyasha took a step forward to argue, but Sesshoumaru cut him off immediately. "And that power, Inuyasha, didn't come from Kagome. You know damn well what Kikyou did to her. She did it for a purpose, and that purpose was to eliminate any source of rivalry."

Inuyasha bowed his head in defeat. "So the only chance we have is to kill him." When no objections were made, Sesshoumaru lifted his right hand and it glowed green as his poison oozed out. The man looked terrified. "Die." Sesshoumaru said coldly as he brought his hand down to kill the stranger who was backing away in horror.

* * *

The sound of the history teacher rapping on the chalkboard was deafening. "Class! Please settle down!" Kagome's history teacher clapped his hands together as the students dashed back to their desks. Ever since that fateful day in which Kagome released her miko powers, many of the students feared her excluding Ayumi, Eri, Yuka, and Hojo. Sango, of course, knew about Kagome's miko powers, thus having no fear over her. 

Ayumi, Yuka, and Eri were Kagome's friends and were also quite nosy. Ayumi wasn't so bad, but Yuka and Eri seemed brutal. Ayumi had longer curly hair that she wore down while Eri and Yuka both had shoulder-length hair. The only difference between the two was that Yuka wore a headband and Eri did not. As usual, Eri and Yuka cheered along with the rest of the class upon hearing that they were going on a field trip. Kagome sighed and Ayumi smiled. They were the only two students in class who didn't go crazy with excitement. Kagome wondered if they were going to visit the Inuyasha forest again. Personally, she didn't feel like going back there since it brought back too many memories, too many memories of Inuyasha.

"We well be going to…" Kagome held her breath along with the rest of the class waiting to hear him say the Inuyasha forest. "The unchanged islands." Kagome let out a sigh of relief while the class went wild. They had seen pictures of it. It was a very beautiful place, beautiful, yet strange. Many people tried to urbanize it into a resort island, but as quickly as they brought their materials, they were mysteriously destroyed into nothing but dust along with the trees, thus the place remained unchanged. Another strange thing was that any monk, male or female, could set foot on the island. Kagome was unsure if she were to be able enter.

"Umm…" she spoke up, "I'm not sure if I could even set foot on that island."

"What's wrong? Afraid that you might be fried crisp like those other monks and mikos that tried to enter that island?" A boy from the back of the class called mockingly. Kagome cast her glance down at her hands. She was a miko, there was no way she would be able to enter that place without being blasted back into the ocean with enough force to send her ramming into mainland Japan, thus killing her. Then again, she had the Shiken Jewel in her body _that_ might save her. Nonetheless Kagome was worried. She wondered what type of person or maybe even what kind of Miko put it up. She would have to go to inspect it to see who had put it up. It might be the deed of a taiyoukai. Speaking of taiyoukais, that reminded her of Sesshoumaru and Sesshoumaru reminded her of… Inuyasha.

"Kagome's a fraidy cat!" The same boy laughed along with the rest of the class, but Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka didn't. In fact, Yuka stood up and yelled at the boy. Kagome barely heard it, because if it was a youkai that put up that barrier, it might be because of Sesshoumaru. But Sesshoumaru despised humans. She highly doubted that he wanted ANY humans crawling around on his precious plot of land. "The bastard…" she mumbled to herself. But there might be a chance that Inuyasha was there. Inuyasha… the one and only protector… INUYASHA! He might be there waiting for her. She was almost positive about it.

Inuyasha may have been a Hanyou, but he once told her that Hanyous lived up to fifty thousand years, half the life of a full youkai, which was a hundred thousand years. The last time she was with him, he was only two hundred years old. Add five hundred to that, it meant that he was only seven hundred years old, meaning that he had a long way to go as far as natural death was concerned. _If it was really Sesshoumaru who put up the barrier, then Inuyasha might still be alive. He always has a way in surviving Sesshoumaru…_ Kagome thought to herself. And who knew? Sesshoumaru might have accepted Inuyasha as his brother, "Fat chance." Kagome said aloud.

The same kid laughed at her, but Kagome ignored it. She just couldn't picture Sesshoumaru being nice to his younger brother. Suddenly she stood up scaring the whole class including the teacher. "I'm going!" She shouted. While sitting back down, Kagome knew this was a perfect chance to see Inuyasha, if she was lucky, he and Sesshoumaru would have never crossed paths, and he might be alive. The same kid who made fun of her was shivering. At that, the bell rang and Kagome grabbed her bag and ran out of the class leaving a bunch of surprised kids. "Whew!" One of them said, "At least she didn't attack us with her scary pink thing."

* * *

"STOP!" A hand grabbed Sesshoumaru's wrist. The only person in the whole cave that ever dared to touch him was Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru glared at his brother who was grabbing onto his arm. "Don't kill him."

"ARE. YOU. IN-SANE?" Sesshoumaru hissed enunciating each syllable to his younger brother who grabbed onto his wrist. Sesshoumaru brought his hand closer to the man's throat. "He's seen too much, he needs to die!" Sesshoumaru inched his hand downward as Inuyasha grabbed onto his wrist now with two hands.

"Are you stupid? RUN!" Inuyasha shouted. The Man seemed to snap out of his trance and sped out of the cave as fast as he could. Sesshoumaru watched him run until he was gone. Once the ningen's stench faded away, he punched his brother in the face.

"You pathetic hanyou! Do you realize what you've done?"

"He won't tell, you filthy bastard." Inuyasha growled from his spot not moving from the spot where he rammed into the cave wall making Rin and Ayame flinch. "Doesn't matter anyway… this place has been already known by humans. You should at least be grateful that no miko or monk could ever enter this place." A cough came from Miroku, "Except for you."

Sesshoumaru glared at his brother who had finally picked himself off the ground. Deep down inside, he had agreed, but he didn't let it show. It was true that the normal humans had tried to bring strange things into his land that reeked of metal and oil and something else, but he, Sesshoumaru had destroyed them along with Inuyasha, Shippou, Kouga, and Miroku. Of course the monk had used his kazanna to suck in the strange items without any trace, Inuyasha used his Tetsusagia, Shippou used his now powerful fox fire, Kouga his powerful kick and punch, and him, Sesshoumaru, used his tojiken and his light whip.

But that was a long time ago. The humans had long given up trying to bring such strange things onto THEIR land. They even went as far to bring a monk or a miko over thinking that there were evil spirits there. Obviously most of them vaporized the moment they touched the barrier. The luckier ones were expelled from the island only to be killed by the force of them ramming into mainland Japan. Most of the regular humans knew nothing of their existence, except for Rin. Rin and Miroku… they were the only humans on the island. It was a wonder that they survived five hundred years, both having drunk out of a spring that elongated their lives as long as a hanyou could live. Of course they didn't know until Miroku realized that neither of them seemed to look old after about fifty years. And when they passed two hundred, both were suspicious of the spring within the cave.

Humphing to himself, Sesshoumaru turned away from his brother towards the mouth of the cage. But a sudden flash disturbed his vision. The flash was so blinding his eyes watered. He heard Inuyasha get into a defensive growl and the other people moved into their defensive position, Rin and Ayame was pushed towards the back along with Jaken, Ah-un, and Kirara, if danger came along back there, they would help them. Sesshoumaru felt his eyes readjust to the surrounding.

"YOU!" Inuyasha shouted. The same man was holding another strange box. Sesshoumaru steadied himself to attack. Much to his surprise, Inuyasha jumped in front of him snarling, "How dare you… Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" That was the end of the strange man. Inuyasha, who had once yielded his life, slashed him to ribbons with his claws. "You will not create pictures of ANY of us." He growled down at the remains of the intruder. The stench of blood filled the cave, so strong Sesshoumaru had a headache. He covered his nose with his sleeve. Seeing that the youkais or the hanyou could not get near the remains without getting sick, Rin and Miroku moved forward to clean up the mess.

Within minutes, the place as clean, but the smell of blood still stayed. "You're right Sesshoumaru." Inuyasha growled, "These people nowadays are untrustworthy." Without another word, Sesshoumaru watched Inuyasha disappear deeper into the cave after having smashed the box into pieces. If he had guessed correctly, his brother had just saved him from transforming, thus destroying their hiding place. "Inuyasha," he muttered, "Did you just save me?" The drafty wind blew past the youkai and his hair fluttered a bit before settling down again.


	3. The Land where Time Froze

**Disclaimer:** Do not own Inuyasha… yada, yada, yada…

**Chapter 3:** The Land where Time Froze

The ride on the plane had been hell. The kids screamed and laughed with one another. Kagome sat quietly with Sango and Ayumi, since they were the quietest. She wondered if Inuyasha really was behind the barrier that killed so many priests and mikos. Kagome packed her bow and arrow with her in case something had happened, or in case she was sucked back in the feudal era. That, however, was virtually impossible, but hey, it might happen. Now they were on a boat, since the only way on the island was by boat. Kagome leaned over the rail of the boat tensely as they approached the island.

For a moment, Kagome did feel as if she had plunged back into the depths of time to return into the arms of Inuyasha. Kagome felt her eyes water. After five long agonizing hours, she knew that now was the time to figure out how big the barrier was. Kagome ran back into her quarters where her friends were talking idle talks. Kagome threw open her luggage and grabbed her bow and arrow. This shocked her friends. They followed her out onto the deck along with other curious students who saw Kagome rushing, erm… I take that back, THUNDERING down the hall as she notched her arrow onto her bow. Kagome skidded to a halt at the stern of the deck and drew her bow.

Kagome was sure that, even if the island as far away to the point where it was only a dot to the naked eye, the barrier might have been a large one. Kagome concentrated on the point of the arrow putting all her power into the head. By now, all her fellow classmates have come out to see what she would do. They had never seen anyone use a bow and arrow in person, so seeing Kagome made them interested. _Here goes._ Kagome thought to herself as a small ball of pink started to form from the point of the arrow. Once she was sure she had enough power in her arrow, Kagome released it. In a sparkle of pink glitter, the arrow shot forward straight as a bullet.

The other student stared with their jaws on the ground. Suddenly from a distance, a huge burst of blue and pink and purple light erupted, sending waves of energy. Kagome told everyone to grab on tight. The wave hit them making the boat shudder and shake violently for a while. Kagome did not take her eyes off the barrier. She saw it. It was a HUGE barrier that crackled with blue energy. The other students muttered never having experienced such a scene.

A couple hours later, Kagome notched her arrow and fired. The other students shouted at her to stop, but Kagome had to be ready when the boat's stern hit the barrier. The arrow didn't get too far. In fact, Kagome saw it vaporize before her very eyes. Without much thought, she dropped her bow and arrow on the deck and grabbed onto the railing and braced herself for the hell she had to go through in order to see Inuyasha. "Inuyasha… I'd do anything for you." She whispered to herself as the stern hit the barrier. Kagome could virtually SEE the barrier open up and let the boat through. She as afraid. Would she vaporize like many other monks and mikos that dared to enter? Then she felt it, the strong wave of the barrier. The boat was having problems getting in the moment the barrier reached Kagome. It sure as hell was hell. Her hair whipped about her as blue energy crackled about her.

Screaming in pain, Kagome shut her eyes screaming out the name of her lover. The other students blinked at the miko whose hair blew like mad. The barrier wanted so bad to expel her from getting near the island. Kagome strengthened her grip on the pipe she was grabbing onto. The metal creaked and groaned as the boat fused forward. The metal dug into her flesh until it was cut up and bled profusely. Did she survive a little longer because of the Shiken Jewel that lay dormant in her body. She felt the barrier doing it's job in moving from expelling to vaporizing. Her skin crawled as she felt as if a thousand knives slammed into her body at once. The least she could do was call out his name before she died. "INUYASHA!" She screamed one last time, thinking this was the end of her life.

Sure, the other kids thought she was crazy, but seeing that the boat had slowed down considerably almost to a halt, they realized that for some reason Kagome was not allowed here. Upon screaming the strange legendary character's name, her whole body seemed to glow. It glowed with such intensity, a huge blast of energy shot out from her body, thus shattering the barrier much like glass and all was left of it were blue sparkles as the barrier was broken. In the end, Kagome sank to her knees and nearly hit the floor. She barely supported herself with her hands panting in the middle of a pool of blood that was once hers.

Sango rushed out and grabbed onto her friend. "KAGOME!" The young miko panted in an effort to regain her composure.

"Was it the Shiken Jewel?" She muttered to herself. _Did I use the Shiken Jewel, or did I use my own power source? I sure as heck didn't feel any vibes from the Shiken Jewel reacting… so was is me?_ Kagome didn't realize that Sango had hugged her close to herself telling her she was okay now.

* * *

"The barrier." Sesshoumaru said in silent shock. The last of the youkais stared out the opening of the cave half expecting to see the ominous silhouette of Kikyou. Luckily they didn't see it. "How did she… JAKEN! Put up another barrier NOW!" Sesshoumaru shouted at his servant.

Jaken immediately tapped his staff on the floor and a wave of blue flashed out from the tip of the nintengen. It rippled out from where he stood as Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru drew their swords, Sesshoumaru the Tokijen, Inuyasha the Tetsusaiga. They knew they couldn't stand a chance against Kikyou, but it was worth a try. The only weapon they had that were actually helpful was, believe it or not, Jaken's Nintengen, because that created the barrier that kept all mikos and monks out for five hundred years. It also masked their aura from Kikyou.

Once the blue ripple was out of sight, Jaken lowered his staff and announced that the barrier was set up once more. None of them seemed to relieve their tension until one of the youkais announced that the barrier had been set. Rin collapsed on the floor for standing so tensely. "Saved." Was all Miroku said.

* * *

"Oh no…" Kagome whispered as she watched the blue energy ripple towards them, "Oh no… another barrier!" Sango looked up in time to see the blue energy that seemed so harmless wash towards them. The other students, being stupid or rather ignorant, as Sango concluded, saw nothing. Sango stood behind Kagome and grabbed her shoulder. "Kagome, I won't let that barrier kill you." She said.

"NO!" Kagome shouted. She pushed Sango away from her, the moment the barrier touched her. It threw her against the wall of the boat. Her hands had already healedbecause ofthe Shiken Jewel, but now she felt her back burning as the metal dug into her back. Kagome summoned all her strength and painfully inched towards her bow and arrow. Sango seeing this, ran over to the bow and arrow and placed them in front of Kagome, becauseKagome did not allow her to touch her. Kagome gripped the bow and pulled out another arrow with pain and difficulty and blood flowed out from her back and onto the deck. Kagome tried to notch the arrow, but failed.

Frustrated, she tossed the bow on the deck and clutched the arrow in both her hands and using her newfound strength from the Shiken Jewel managed to get up to her knees. She lifted the arrow up as her class watched bewildered. Willing all her strength into her arrow, it glowed first pink, then slowly changed to crackling blue energy. Steadying herself, Kagome plunged the tip of the arrow into the barrier. The energy radiated black and blue powers, which her classmates certainly saw. The blue energy scorched her hands, but Kagome did not give up. _Not now, not ever_. She thought bitterly to herself. If it was Inuyasha who was behind this, she had to break through. She just HAD to, and even if he wasn't there, she needed to know if he _really_ was there. The tip of the arrow let out a burst of blue electricity. The barrier seemed to resist and expand, pushing her backwards a bit. Kagome clenched her jaws and pushed forward, the barrier stretched out like an elastic band.

Suddenly she felt the trill that she was winning. She inched forward and closed her eyes. She was going to use everything in her power to break through the barrier unscathed, or at least alive, seeing the condition she was in. Sango watched her from afar, wishing she could help, but she knew about these barriers. Powerful taiyoukais and weapons youkais carried used this barrier to keep mikos or monks out in their last, desperate attempt to stay alive. Ninety nine point nine percent of the time, it worked, killing any miko or monk that touched it no matter how powerful they were. But Kagome, the first time, she shattered the barrier completely, could it be that she was more powerful than Kikyou and Midoriko put together?

It seemed as if there was a bubble around Kagome formed by the barrier. It flexed under her command, ready to expel her with all its strength. Kagome must have known that, because it had stretched longer than it should have, thus weakening the barrier. In the end, Kagome burst through the barrier pitching forward and slamming into the front of the boat. The hole that she had created in the barrier slowly closed itself up."Kagome!" Sango dropped her boomerang and rushed over to her friend who lay exhausted at the stern of the boat, panting. She was beyond repair. Sango knew that if it hadn't been for the Shiken Jewel, Kagome would have been dead by now.

"I'm fine, Sango, I just need to rest." Kagome closed her eyes. Sango knew she was using the power of the Shiken Jewel to heal herself. Just as she guessed, the scraped knee that had been scraped to show her kneecaps slowly mended and healed until her knees were good as new. Her bloodied hands healed, and Sango felt Kagome's broken back mend. The nasty cut she received from slamming into the stern faded into smooth skin. All the students stared, shell-shocked. "You're okay now, rest Kagome." Sango said gently, holding onto Kagome tenderly like a sister.

"Did she just…" Eri started, "Did she just heal herself?"

"That's none of your business." Sango said coldly. Kagome told her earlier when they just realized the well sealed up, not to tell anyone about her possession of the Shiken Jewel. Sango knew that Kagome feared that now that the youkais were put at rest, the humans would come after her. When Kagome was semi conscious, Sango helped her up and led her to her quarter to rest until they got to the island. She picked up Kagome's bow and arrow along the way. The students that blocked their path immediately moved out of the way as the two hobbled over to Kagome's quarters.

* * *

"Jaken. Tell me what justhappened, why did that miko manage to burst through the barrier?"

"I-I-I do not know, Sesshoumaru-sama." Jaken whimpered trembling under his master's icy stare.

Sesshoumaru angrily turned around and Jaken fell on his knees bowing madly, "I'm sorry Sesshoumaru-sama, butI do not know what happened! Please forgive me!" The youkai howled bowing as fast as he could, groveling at Sesshoumaru's feet. Jaken was silenced when Sesshoumaru's foot smashed onto his back.

"Sesshoumaru-sama, please do not act rash. It is not Jaken's fault that this miko managed somehow to break through your barrier. Besides, it is virtually impossible for any miko or monk, no matter how powerful to pass through your barrier. Of course maybe with the help of the Shiken Jewel, a miko or monk _may_ have the possibly of getting through alive." Myoga said wisely from his spot on Kouga's head. Kougaglared up at the flea-youkai on his head and flicked him away with the toss of his head. Myoga went screaming awayinto the background asSesshoumaru glared at Inuyasha, whose eyes went round with shock.

"Kagome…" He muttered.

"What do you MEAN by that wretched miko? She has none of this silly mikopowers, and you GAVE the Shiken Jewel to that damned clay miko to take to hell. Are you telling me she used that to get in here?"

"No! You got the story all wrong!" Inuyasha shouted at his brother. "The Shiken Jewel no longer lies in the possession of Kikyou. When Kagome tried to give it to her for safe handling, it refused to say in her hands and instead returned to Kagome. Kikyou is no longer the protector of the Shiken Jewel, which means only ONE thing… Kagome!" The Hanyou made and attempt to dash out of the cave, when Sesshoumaru's hand gripped his shoulders. "You're going nowhere, until we are sure this woman is not that Kikyou woman.

"I TOLD YOU! IT'S NOT KIKYOU! IT'S KAGOME!" Inuyasha screamed, punching at his brother.

"Hmmm… for once in his life, Dog-Turd actually was thinking!" Kouga said calmly from his spot in the cave, after having stomped on Myoga. "But, I'm not going anywhere until I SEE that it's Kagome with my own eyes. Besides, I certainly can't trust Dog-Turd and his tiny brain!"

"KEH! Screw you, Mangly Wolf! Look at yourself! You have an even SMALLER brain then I do!... Not that my brain is small anyway!" Inuyasha snapped as he tore himself out of Sesshoumaru's grasp and sat grudgingly on the ground sitting much like a dog. He turned his head away from the rest of the group, in annoyance.

"Fine. We shall patrol the island. Tonight I shall scout out the island to see find this so-called Kagome, or shall I presume Kikyou? When I return, the next youkai assigned to patrol shall be sent out. Inuyasha, you are NOT to leave the cave whatsoever. It is too dangerous for you to patrol the island. The order of the patrol after me are: Shippou, Miroku, and then Kouga. If any of you should see that this miko is dangerous, you are to kill this miko without hesitation." Without waiting for a response, Sesshoumaru pulled his armor on and unsheathed the Tokijen as he left.

Sesshoumaru silently lifted the tokijen above his head, using it as some sort of an umbrella for the waterfall that hid the cave from view. Keeping his senses alert, Sesshoumaru looked left and right his golden orbs flashing. The waterfall came from a huge river that flowed seven hundred feet above their cave. Sesshoumaru cautiously waddled through the calm clear lake that had been untouched from the pollution of modern-day Japan thanks to his barrier. The water deepened as the inuyoukai waddled towards the middle of the pool of lake that formed from the river that collapsed into the pool. The water came up to his chest when he waddled into the middle of the lake.

The moon was full that night, and if anyone had been watching, they would have seen what they thought was a woman with long silvery hair that clouded around the white outfit Sesshoumaru wore. It seemed as if he were glowing, but that moment was gone the moment he reached the edge of the pool near a river that led the water out towards the ocean. Sesshoumaru pulled himself out of the pool and sheathed his sword. The sound of metal sliding against metal was heard and ended with a silent click. He grabbed his hair and squeezed the water out before leaping out into the night sky.

So far nothing seemed out of the ordinary. As usual, there were trees and shrubs and occasionally several surviving lesser youkais that cowered when he swiftly passed them. But that didn't make his journey towards the ocean entirely peaceful. Some of the lesser youkais were idiotic enough or too slownot to move out of the inutaiyoukai's way, thus earning the consequences of his poisonous light whip that sliced them in half.

The first place Sesshoumaru wanted to survey was the beach. It all seemed reasonable, because he heard the sound of a boat lightly sliding into the sand. That probably meant that this so-called Miko was here. The strange thing was when the wind blew past his face, he smelled other people, young humans. Sesshoumaru narrowed his eyes and wondered what Kikyou was doing with a bunch of teenagers. He stopped on a cliff that overlooked the beach that spread before him. He wanted to call this area _Ningen_ because it seemed to be a favorite spot for humans to land on whenever they came. Of course, on the western side, there were better beaches, which Rin and Shippou always ran off to, only togain one bump eachfrom Inuyasha.

Calm, impassive golden orbs surveyed the land without a problem from the darkness. Besides, theweakling humanshad foolishly put up a campfire, making it easier to see them. Sesshoumaru wondered if Kikyou was amongst them. He was positive that she wasn't as foolish as most humans, she usually attacked through the darkness. Maybe she put on a new fighting tactic. Most of the time, Sesshoumaru watched the miko fight from a safe distance to watch her fighting technique. Of course before she finished the youkai off, he would have returned to the island to give everyone else an update on what had happened.

However, ever since the humans had started to create strange things such as huge slabs of angular rocks, which they hovered in and out of, Sesshoumaru forbade the rest of the gang to leave the island. Then the pathetichumans turned on their hiding place (the island,I mean, _their_ island)to change it to become like the rest of Japan. Having no choice, Sesshoumaru and the rest destroyed anything that seemed to trigger changes on the islands. One of them were the strange figures that reeked of metal and oil. The humans seemed to fight back, even being brave enough to send several other strangely dressed humans after them carrying strange weapons that even he, Sesshoumaru, barely dodged. Lately, the humans had given up on changing their hiding place, but that didn't stop them from tainting their lands with their filthy feet.

He would have been obliged to slash these intruders into ribbons, but Rin had stopped him, thus many humans passed by this island, but never changing it. Of course they carelessly threw trash about, but that simply got themselves killed by a furious Inuyasha who slashed them to ribbons with his Iron Reaver Soul Stealer. _Maybe the whelp's pretty useful after all. Had he learned to hate humans, like me? Of course not! He is after all, half HUMAN, and still is in love with another human, not just any ordinary human, but a MIKO!_ Sesshoumaru mused to himself, a small smirk creeped onto his smooth face, but was quickly shattered at the thought that his only brother was in love with a miko. True, he hated humans, buthis brother still had hisfather's blood running through his shamefulveins, a pity, really.To the human eyes,Sesshoumaru stilllooked about twenty, and it seemed as if he looked like that for five hundred years. To be exact, Sesshoumaru didn't look any different from what he looked like five hundred years ago, with an exception of longer hair, which he had finally done up in a ponytail (once in a fight, he landed flat on his face thanks to tripping over his hair that dragged on the ground, later, he sliced it off with a simply sword, up to his ankles. Nevertheless, he couldn't run the same humiliating risk, especially when Inuyasha rolled on the ground laughing himself nearlyto death).

Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Sesshoumaru leapt off the cliff to land smoothly and softly onto the ground without a sound, that except for the whispering sounds of his hair brushing against his back and onto the floor. Using his inhumane speed, Sesshoumaru kept himself a safe distant from the group of humans. He noticed that they were dressed alike, or for the most part most of them were.Hisgolden eyessmoothly and casually scanned the area for anything that was dressed differently, or perhaps someone who was dressed in a similar manner such as himself... white haori and red pants.His eyes fell on the form of a woman who had a large boomerang-shaped youkai bone weapon that lay next to her.

Sesshoumaru immediately identified her as one of Inuyasha's missing companions. It intrigued him that he could smell a miko, but she was nowhere in sight. It wasn't just any miko, it was an immensely powerful miko, who was more powerful than Kikyou herself. No, the scent of this miko was much like the Kikyou miko, he was sure of it. This meant danger, and it meant war. Kikyou had come on the island. But she was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she was hiding somewhere waiting for him or anyone else to come out so she could strike them down with her purity arrows.

Suspicious of the surrounding, Sesshoumaru's eyes scanned the area in a manner that almost seemed as if he were trying to drag Kikyou out with just his eyes. If he were lucky, he might be able to use Kikyou's scent to track her down and maybe lash out at her before she could recognize that he was there? No, that wasn't as easy as it sounded. Kikyou, being a miko, was able to feel his youki, thus making it hard to give her a surprise attack. She was also immensely fast for a human. _Damn that clay pot! She notches her arrow faster than I can run!_ Careful not to let his growl come out from his throat, Sesshoumaru silently shifted through the forest that lined the beach.

If it hadn't been for Kikyou's ominous presence, especially her stench, Sesshoumaru would have actually been silently enjoying the breeze in the forest like he did when he first came. The smell of the pines and the dirt almost made him feel nostalgic, _almost_. Mentally cursing Kikyou for ruining his peaceful moment, Sesshoumaru leapt up into a tree upon hearing voices coming his way.

A thin beam of light broke the path as three girls came into view. At first, Sesshoumaru was not interested, but the topic of their discussion forced him to turn half his attention to them. After all, he, Sesshoumaru, never let his guard down. The three girls were oddly dressed much like that Kagome miko. If he didn't have a keen sense of smell, then he would have mistaken them as Kagome, and would have been utterly confused. The three femalehumans were walking aroundthe one in the middlehad about shoulder-length hair and wore some sort of cloth in her hair. She was the one doing most of the talking while she held a strange contraption that had light coming from it. The one on her left had longercurly hair, much like Naraku's only shorter and the one on the right had her hair up to her chin.

"I wonder what's wrong with Kagome. She's been tense all day." The one with the curly hair said with a worried expression on her face.

"I don't know… she's been blabbing stuff about that fictional character. What was his name?" The chin-length hair girl answered.

"PAH! Are you guys talking about the one with the cat ears on his head with the silvery hair and golden eyes?" Sesshoumaru suddenly turned all his attention on the girl with the cloth in her hair. "What was his name again? Inu… Inutaisho?"

_How dare you mix father up with that whelp!_ Sesshoumarugrowledin his mind.

"Yeah! Inutaisho! And he had a full youkai half-brother named Inuyasha. They shared a dad named Sesshoumaru. Too bad they're fictional. You know, I couldn't believe that Inuyasha was a guy! He looked so much like a girl with the eye shadow thing and all!" Sesshoumaru fell out of the tree in shock and indigence, one foot up in the air twitching irritably. The three girls didn't notice and the one with the shoulder length hair continued. "At any rate, Kagome acts as if she knows them, or at least she thinks she knows Inutaisho and Inuyasha."

_It's **Sesshoumaru** and Inuyasha to you, pitiful, good-for-nothing human!_ Sesshoumaru thought angrily as he climbed back into the tree. He decided to follow the trio, hoping that they'd take him to the miko. Hesilently jumped from tree to tree to keep up with the three femalehumans. He wondered where they were going.

"Thank kami Kagome isn't here, she probably would have scolded me and said that the full, jealous and not to mention obsessed brother of that half youkai's real name was Sesshoumaru. Pfft! The textbook identifies him as Inuyasha!" Sesshoumaru was insulted beyond words. HIM, obsessed? JEALOUS? Of that whelp! Ha! _Well, thatidiotic book of yours is WRONG!_ Sesshoumaru thought to himself. "Well anyway, she keeps on moping about her violent two-timing boyfriend Inuyasha. I wonder if he looks like the girly youkai Inuyasha guy, he has the same name as Inutaisho's half brother. Anyway, Kagome keeps saying that the half-youkai is Inuyasha, the jealous and obsessed youkai is Sesshoumaru and their dad is Inutaisho. Maybe she's right, besides, she does have a history crazed grandfather."

The other girls nodded in agreement, and Sesshoumaru slightlyrelaxed satisfied that thehuman had finally gotten her factsstraight, but he was quicklyirritated by the girl announcing that she would follow the textbook. Annoyed, Sesshoumaru jumped in front of their path, landing quite gracefully on the ground blocking their path. The three girls immediately screeched to a halt. The one with the curly hair nearly screamed, but the one holding the contraption covered her mouth. "Relax Ayumi, it's just some random person, not one of those youkais Kagome's freaky friend Sango and that guide kept talking about."

"HUMAN!" Sesshoumaru thundered silencing her at once, "How dare you mistaken me as a human! Your stench disgusts me, and take that junk out of my eyes!" He snarled flexing his claws.

"Us human? You look human to us." The one in the middle said still not taking the strange thing off him. In fact, she had taken a liking in annoying him and shone the thing directly in his eyes making his vision nearly go all white. Annoyed, Sesshoumaru willed the poison into his hand, letting it extend into his poisonous whip before lashing out at the strange contraption in the girl's hand. In one graceful movement, he sliced the strange thing in half and the light vanished. He narrowed his orbs at the three now petrified girls standing before him. Satisfied that he had finally gotten them to be frightened for a while, Sesshoumaru tugged his whip back towards him and it returned to his hands and vanished.

"Speak up human, how dare you confuse my honorable father with my worthless hanyou half-brother!"

"What are you speaking of? Isn't the guy with cat ears on his head Inutaisho?"

Growling lightly in annoyance, Sesshoumaru felt there was no need in starting a conversation with these foolish humans. They were far more useless than Inuyasha's wretch. "I do not feel the need to waste my time withlowlyhumans such as yourselves, die." With that, Sesshoumaru leapt at them with his poisonous claws posed to attack, but…

"DUCK!" A familiar voice screeched through the night air. The girls complied and flatted themselves on the ground before a purity arrow sliced through the air, it's pink aura narrowly missing Sesshoumaru's face. "SESSHOUMARU! YOU WILL NOT HARM THEM!" Sesshoumaru turned around in the blink of an eye to find him face to face with Kikyou.

* * *

Kagome sighed as she lowered herself down on a rock. The guide wanted to do a play and she was chosen to be Kikyou mostly because all the students told him she had funny pink powers that proved to be quite dangerous. _Of course,_ Kagome thought indignantly to herself, _The quide said I looked a lot like Kikyou…_ Sighing, Kagome dropped the bundle of clothes on the floor. She had worn these several times, and on her first meeting with Inuyasha, Inuyasha tried to make her take these miko clothes off complaining that with them on, she looked strikingly familiar to Kikyou. Hugging the bundle of clothes to her chest, Kagome wondered aloud, "Where are you Inuyasha?" Knowing that the question would not bring him back, she concentrated on the miko robes in front of her.

The guide told her that these robes were once worn by Kikyou herself, thus surprising her classmates, since they thought Kikyou was merely a legend. Kagome wondered if Inuyasha would truly mistaken her as Kikyou, now that she would "smell" like her since she was putting on what was once Kikyou's clothes. Sighing to herself, Kagome undressed herself and pulled on Kikyou's former outfit. She picked up her bow and arrow, ready to exit when she sensed some youki coming her way. Without a moment's hesitation, she notched her arrow and turned to the source of the youki. It was a great big scorpion youkai. It's been a while since Kagome first saw these youkais. _Too bad Sango isn't with me._ She thought ruefully as she released her arrow. It sailed through the air, hitting her target. In a burst of pink light, the youkai disintegrated into nothing but dust.

More and more youkais approached her, and Kagome knew very well that these youkais were after the Shiken no Tama that was in her body. She remembered that she was the soul protector of the Shiken Jewel and found herself at battle with many power-hungry youkais. The island held a lot more youkais than she had anticipated. Sure, she did feel the youki when she got on the island, but she didn't anticipate for there to be this many youkais. Then again, this was a very large island that would take more than a month to get to the other side, or at least that's what the guide said.

* * *

Sango sighed as she looked boredly on at the rest of the strangely dressed students. Kagome tried to get Sango to wear something else, but Sango refused to change out of her clothes. She also brought her boomerang, face mask, and her taiyjia fighting outfit with her telling an objecting Kagome that they might come into use. And that night, it did, because Sango found the camp being sabotaged by youkais. They were thankfully not taiyoukais such as Sesshoumaru and Naraku, but to these powerless students, they were as dangerous as Naraku himself. Sango told them to get closer to the fire and posed with her boomerang. The students that once laughed at her complied without second thought as Sango threw her boomerang at the youkais that attacked her.

_They must have been very hungry…_ Sango thought, _I wonder why they didn't pop out until now… there must be something on this island that has been keeping them in check_. She wondered what kept them in check. Maybe there was some sort of taiyoukai somewhere that kept them in check. Pushing the thoughts off her mind, Sango kept her mind in attacking the youkais so she wouldn't be vulnerable. At that the youkais charged forward and fell from Sango's boomerang. Sango had awed the class in her great skill. Maybe she did serve a purpose in this time after all, at least on this island.

* * *

Kagome had managed to teach the youkais that attacked her a lesson or two as she rushed down the dirt path that led to her classmates. _Oh no! I'm late!_ Kagome thought to herself, but froze when she felt a powerful youki of a taiyoukai. The taiyoukai was on the same path as her, which wasn't so hard after all. All she had to do was run straight down this path, which she promptly did. As she ran, she noticed her three friends standing there petrified by an inu taiyoukai that towered over them. It had only one arm, the left arm wasn't there. It had a fluffy, white boa on its shoulder and sweeping silver hair that was tied up in a ponytail, which blew in the breeze. Upon seeing the taiyoukai, Kagome froze. It was Sesshoumaru.

"DUCK!" She screamed at her friends as she released the arrow, "Sesshoumaru! Stay away from them!" The taiyoukai managed to dodge in time while Kagome reloaded her bow. The arrow's miko aura barely grazed Sesshoumaru's smooth white face as he landed gracefully on the floor. His silver hair had grown longer than she had remembered. IN fact, it was now so long that Sesshoumaru had used the yellow and blue sash that was once around his waist to tie it. Obviously, he had a lot more than one of those sashes since he still had one around his waist. Of course, he still had the Tokijen and the Tenseiga with him. They were belted in his side. Sesshoumaru had drawn the Tokijen. But that didn't faze Kagome, what really fazed her was when he snarled, "Kikyou…"

"Kikyou?" Ayumi wondered slowly straightening herself along with Yuka and Eri. "But she's only a legend isn't she?"

"Ayumi, don't be fooled by that crazy guide, Kikyou is a legend! I think the play already started! Whoooooo the arrow looked so real!"

"Eri… get off the road, Sesshoumaru's too dangerous, let me deal with him!"

"Sesshoumaru? You mean Inutaisho and Inuyasha's dad?"

Immediately both Kagome and Sesshoumaru collapsed onto the ground their feet twitching in the air. Laughing nervously while stealing glances at Sesshoumaru, Kagome steadied herself, "Eri… INUTAISHO is the DAD of Inuyasha and SESSHOUMARU. Inuyasha is the HANYOU and SESSHOUMARU is the INU TAIYOUKAI."

"Oh. So Inuyasha was the younger guy, huh? Wait, what's Hayou and Inu… tai… Taiwan? Huh?" Yuka asked cocking her head to the side in confusion. Upon hearing that, both Kagome and Sesshoumaru sweat-dropped.

"It's um… a concept that's not too hard to understand. A Hanyou is a cross breed between a youkai and human, which is what Inuyasha is, and err… and Inu, like all of you know,means dog, and taiyoukai is a label given to the youkais that are very, very powerful… so basically, Sesshoumaru is an Inu Youkai, but he's a derivative of Inutaisho, who was a taiyoukai, thus making him an Inu taiyoukai…" Kagome broke off when she realized that her friends had collapsed onto the ground now with spiral eyes that marked their confusion. Kagome sweat-dropped once more as her calmer friend Ayumi got up.

"Wait… I don't get it… your explanation's too confusing!"

"Foolish human, your human parents must have forgotten how powerful taiyoukais are!"

"Eh-heh-heh-heh! Ayumi, don't mind him." Kagome said taking a step towards her friends. Behind Ayumi, Eri and Yuka had gotten up rubbing their heads in confusion.

"I don't believe you. You know, for the past few weeks you've been acting weird! You used to agree that Inuyasha was the jealous, obsessed guy that wanted to get that sword… what was it called? Sushiasha? Tetris?"

"Erm… you're right about the jealous and obsessed part, but I guess Sesshoumaru doesn't want the Tetsusaiga anymore. After all, he had Kaizinbo make him the Tokijen as a compensation. But the obsessed guy isn't Inuyasha, Inuyasha is the one that wields the Tetsusaiga, and SESSHOUMARU is the guy that wants it from him. Of course now, it's only an obsession of getting rid of poor Inuyasha, especially since he CUT HIS ARM OFF." Kagome emphasized the last bit making sure it drilled into Sesshoumaru's head. "Oh and there was once that time where Inuyasha used the Kaze no Kizu on him, thus nearly killing him. Too bad he had the Tenseiga on him, otherwise we wouldn't be dealing with him right now."

"WHAT?" Sesshoumaru shouted angrily, "You impudent miko! How do you know aboutmu father'sswords? DIE!" Much to his misfortune AND his horror, Yuka stepped forward and placed a hand on Kagome's forehead to see if she had a fever. Of course, Kagome didn't have one.

"You sure? You're not sick anywhere, are you? You're starting to act like your weird new friend Sango."

"Sango is NOT weird! She's perfectly normal!"

"Call gawping at a subway train normal?"

"Of course it's normal! Sango's never seen a subway train before!"

"WHAT!"

"And don't even think about asking Sesshoumaru about it."

"Why?"

"Because, (a) he's never seen a subway train before, thus when he sees it, he'd probably use either the Tokijen or his poison light whip on it, and (b) the only thing he cares about is killing Inuyasha and snatching the Tetsusaiga… of course he's still got the Tokijen, but I'm sure he'd love to keep both the Tetsusaiga AND the Tokijen for himself. He is, after all, very power hungry. Much like Naraku, only a tad less evil."

"Miko, I hope you realize that I am still right behind you. How dare you call this Sesshoumaru obsessed and jealous of that whelp…"

"I see…" Eri said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, "But who's Kaizinbo and who's Naraku?" This time, only Sesshoumaru was the only one who landed on the floor with one leg up in the air twitching.

"AH! Well, Kaizinbo is the guy who made Sesshoumaru's sword, the Tokijen, and Naraku is this evil, evil man… err… youkai and he wants to take over the world using the Shiken Jewel!"

"Oh. So… is this Naraku guy another Inuyoukai?" Kagome noticed that Sesshoumaru's right eye twitched slightly.

"NO! Erm… it turned out that Naraku used Sesshoumaru, so uh… Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru both hated him and wanted to kill him along with my other… I mean, these other youkais! Naraku originated from a bandit named Onigumo, but he really isn't a full youkai, he's a hanyou like Inuyasha, but he can shape shift and create incarnations!"

"WHAT? A MAN CAN HAVE BABIES? EEEEEEEEEEEEE! HE'S CREEPY!" Eri screamed in both terror and disgust.

"COOL!" Yuka shouted, making Sesshoumaru flinch from the sudden noise, "You have the same name has that crazy obsessed guy!" Sesshoumaru's eye twitched. "So, Kagome," Sesshoumaru's eyes widened in shock, upon hearingthe Mikobeing called Kagome (he expected her to be called Miko-chan or Kikyou-chan or something like that)"Since you have a pretty good grasp on the story, maybe you might know what this Sesshoumaru guy looks like!"

He could not believe it! He was once known throughout the lands, and how people don't even know what he looks like! Sesshoumaru puffed his chest out in sheer indignance. How dare these humans! He was going to make sure these humans understood what and who he, Sesshoumaru, was. "Well, miko, describe this Sesshoumaru to those insignificant and ignorant humans, before I shred them to pieces." The miko laughed nervously, a relief for him, at least not everyone forgot who he was.

"Before you tell us about what this guy looks like, you mentioned some sort of a poison light whip, what's that?"

"Well… I can't be too sure about where it comes from, but it's basically this long whip thing that has poison on it. It glows because it's made from the poison that comes out from his hand."

"OH KAMI! I WISH I COULD MEET HIM!" Kagome sweat-dropped from Ayumi's naïve comment. "So, what does he look like? Is he handsome?"

"Erm… not really… he sort of looks like a girl." Sesshoumaru thinned his lips in indigence, barely resisting the temptation of raising his claws to start slicing and dicing. "He uh… has very long silvery hair and a slightly darker shade of gold eyes like Inuyasha… and uh… he has pointy ears, like so." Kagome grabbed the top of her ears and pulled them up. "He um… has a navy blue crescent moon on his forehead, and likes to wear red or fuchsia eye shadow… actually, they're youkai markings, not eyeshadow,I was only joking. So uh… and he has two purple stripes underneath each of his eyes, making that a total of four stripes. He also has great long claws and has two stripes on each of his wrists. His skin is very white and he wears this white haori with red hexagons on the sleeves and shoulder. He wears an armor over that and has a yellow sash tied around his waist. He carries around two swords, one the life-giving one called the Tenseiga, forged by Toutosai, and the other called the Tokijen, which I already described to you. Uh… what else? Oh yes, he wears these black boot-things and the highlight!" Sesshoumaru wondered what the highlight was. "He has this fluffy, white pelt that he always wears around his right shoulder."

Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka blinked. "Wait… this Sesshoumaru person…"

"Youkai…" Kagome corrected hastily.

"Whatever, this guy… he sounds or looks awfully familiar to the guy standing behind you. Only, he has his hair tied up in a ponytail."

"That GUY you're talking about IS Sesshoumaru! And I forgot to tell you the average youkai lives up to at least a hundred thousand years, which makes THAT GUY susceptable to be SESSHOUMARU! And I believe I've made him very angry... considering the fact that I called him feminine..."

Sesshoumaru flashed a glare at the three girls. "Now, go, he'll kill all of us with one swing of the Tokijen!" Her friends laughed at herbut at least got off the road. Breathing deeply, Kagome steadied her bow and arrow pointing it straight at his heart.

"Sesshoumaru… where is Inuyasha?"

"Kikyou…" The inuyoukai growled before swinging the tokijen at her. Kagome fired her arrow at the incoming burst of red electricity that shot towards her. The arrow sliced right through the red aura and dissipated it as it flew through in a straight path only to hit a tree on the other side. Sesshoumaru had already fled unscathed.

"Why did he call me Kikyou? Didn't he recognize my scent as me?" Kagome wondered aloud as she lowered her bow. "Sesshoumaru, I'll find you and I'll WILL find out where Inuyasha is." Suddenly, Kagome felt herself zoning out. She didn't know what was going on, something or someone was taking possession of her body. Before she knew it, Kagome turned away from her three friends and fled after Sesshoumaru...

* * *

Inuyasha scowled as he lifted a fish disdainfullyafter sniffing it in disgust. Scowling once more, the poor Hanyou bit into it. "Stop complaining Inuyasha." Ayame told him as she lifted the fish to her lips.

"Does it look as if I would eat this shit when I've been eating it for five hundred years?"

"You sound like Shippou and Rin." Ayame commented calmly.

"WHAT?" Inuyasha leapt up to yell at her when the sound of the waterfall being disturbed was heard. Sesshomaru stood there, his clothing looking quite rattled. A thin line across his left cheek indicated that he cut his face. Sesshoumaru limped into the cave. He no longer had the ponytail he once sported once his hair had grown too long. Inuyasha's hair had grown as long as Sesshoumaru's hair five hundred years ago. "Happened to you?" Inuyasha finished lamely at the state of the bloodstained Sesshoumaru.

After taking another step into the cave, he collapsed onto the floor. "Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin cried out. Inuyasha scowled as the "little" girl rushed over to his fallen brother. Sesshomaru looked as if he was hit head-on with some sort of spiritual power. Miroku and the rest dropped their fish and rushed over to Inuyasha, who had grunted in annoyance at Rin's pathetic attempts to pick Sesshoumaru up. Growling to himself, the Hanyou dragged his brother to his bedding. "He's unconscious. Whatever the hell's out there is fucking dangerous. No one is allowed to leave this cave. Jaken, put up a barrier at the cave entrance."

"Do not tell me what to do, you worthless Hanyou!" Jaken croaked annoyed. He was silenced when Inuyasha whomped him on the head (a huge bump formed). Miroku sighed as Inuyasha continued to beat Jaken senseless. Ayame and Rin, in the meantime, had crowded around Sesshoumaru and were dressing his wounds accordingly. They had removed the remains of his armor, pelt, and haori. Only after they had removed his haori did they realize how serious his wounds were. Whoever had attacked Sesshoumaru had punctured a hole through his stomach and he had abrasions all over his body.

"Who would have attacked Sesshoumaru with such vigor?" Ayame wondered aloud.

"Kikyou?" Rin supplied innocently.

"That's impossible." Inuyasha cut into the conversation. He squatted down on the ground much like a dog as he inspected his half-brother. "Kikyou can't even get on this island, let alone even come near it."

"Yeah, but remember our barrier shattered, and even if Sesshoumaru had Jaken put up a barrier, whoever the miko was, she managed to pull herself onto the island. Jaken, I really think you should follow Inuyasha's advice. Seeing the condition of Sesshoumaru, I don't think it would be wise for us to be sitting around like this without a protective barrier on our cave entrance." Miroku reasoned.

Grudgingly, Jaken got up and tapped his staff on the ground putting a barrier over the entrance of the cave.

"Even if this miko or houshi isn't Kikyou, he or she is just as dangerous." Miroku mused.

Both Ayame and Rin and proceeded to soak strips of cloth in the water to first clean out the wound that formed around the little hole in Sesshoumaru's stomach. _If Kagome were here, she would have at least used herstrange medicine that would have helped Sesshoumaru heal faster._ Inuyasha thought to himself. Much to his distaste, she was not here. To make matters worse, she might have forgotten who he was or if he was lucky, couldn't find him thinking him as long dead. Sighing outwardly, Inuyasha positioned himself on his own bed of grass and leaves. Everyone had returned to their beds, but could not sleep.

Of course they could not sleep. The thought of a powerful miko on the island sickened them to the stomach. Everyone was terse and nervous. Inuyasha kept his eyes on the entrance of their cave, which they had hidden in for five hundred years. During the more peaceful days, they were allowed to leave the cave to experience freedom for a while, But that was a hundred and fifty years ago. Then Inuyasha had run around as much and far as he could go, fearing that he might never be able to do so again. Now here he was sitting like a duck inside a cave waiting for his fate. Inuyasha could not stand sitting around helplessly. Miroku had gotten up and left for his patrol. But because of the emergency, he only hovered around the cave entrance for several hours before Shippou was next on patrol.

Throughout the ordeal, Inuyasha did not sleep; he could not sleep. Something at the back of his mind told him that this mysteriously powerful miko was not Kikyou or any one menacing. Something told him that this miko was Kagome. Yes, his Kagome. He wondered if he would be able to go and see her.

Acting on instincts, Inuyasha got up and roughly yanked Kouga out of the way snarling that he was going to be the next one to go out on patrol. The angered wolf youkai objected as Inuyasha drew the Tetsusaiga. It transformed in his hand as it once did so many years ago.

"You're not going, Dog Turd!" Kouga snarled.

"Shut up Mangy Wolf! I shall see who this miko is for myself, and the likes of you aren't going to stop me!" With one last yank, Inuyasha released himself from Kouga's grasp and like Sesshoumaru did before, he used the broad flat blade of the Tetsusaiga as an umbrella from the waterfall.

"INUYASHA!" Miroku shouted rushing over to the Hanyou's side. "You can't go! What if the miko is Kikyou? Then what are you going to do? You must remember that it is you that she wants to kill so badly!"

"Feh! Don't yank me like that! I shall see who this miko is for myself and I shall conclude what she is." With that, Inuyasha continued to venture out of the cave. Much to his distaste, Sesshoumaru was in front of him in a flash. Wincing slightly from his wounds that haven't healed yet, Sesshoumaru blocked Inuyasha's path. Inuyasha glared at his half-brother who stared back at him, his eyes narrowed in pain. "Move." Inuyasha growled at his brother who had now grabbed his arm.

"Inuyasha, you are not to go out there. It's too dangerous."

"MOVE!" Inuyasha yelled losing his composure for a while.

"Inuyasha, that miko… she was the one who did this to me. She is much to dangerous."

"So? She probably was disgusted by your ugly, GIRLYface!"

"Inuyasha!" Sesshoumaru said sternly, glaring at him. Without warning, Inuyasha felt a sickening feeling in his stomach, indicating that Sesshoumaru had punched him there. "The miko that did this to me was Kikyou!"

* * *

A/N: Ooooh... cliffy, cliffy! See what happens in the next chapter! This chapter was a long one! Whew! Finally got it done!

NEXT CHAPTER: **Chapter 4: Kikyou** DUM, DUM, DUM... what might happen here?


End file.
